Laughter rolled out of me. “Marry you? I wouldn’t even consider it.”
“Don’t be rude. You tend to do that whenever I am close to touching on a nerve.”
I counted to ten in my mind. “What is this psychobabble? Are you doing a degree on psychology or something? Let me tell you that you are lousy at it.”
“See.” His smile lit his face. “Perfect example. You’re scared, I get it. It’s kind of petrifying for me too.”
Shaking my head, I leaned slightly forward. How long would this trip from hell last? “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You and me. That’s what I am talking about. Getting back to Victoria, she waltzed into my office and I was trying to send her on the way, but she didn’t want to take the hint, and then she kissed me.”
“Right. She kissed you?”
“It’s true. I’m sure your keen powers of observations must have noticed that I didn’t have my arms around her. I was actually waiting for her to realize that I don’t harbor any feelings for her. Your untimely entry made things worse, by the way. Now she is convinced that I’m in grave trouble and need her support. I found her at my doorstep in the morning. It was hard to get rid of her, but I told her I had work.” He raised a hand before I could say anything. “And I made it perfectly clear that I wasn’t interested in her at all. Luckily my front door is covered with a camera, and I’ve got the footage with me.” Taking out his phone, he waved it. “You want to see?”
High time to sort this mess out.
“Absolutely not. Listen, Aaron…we did get off to a rocky start, but I have been trying to tell you from the beginning that there can’t be anything between us, we are not meant for each other. We are poles apart.”
“On the contrary, we are quite alike. We’re married to our work, so to speak. We are loyal. We are both formidable mages.”
My upper lip curled. “So I also tick the right boxes.”
He shoved the phone back in his pocket. “Not really. I can’t imagine you as comfortable in a business milieu or at a diplomatic event. You wouldn’t bother with anything in the house, and you would likely keep odd hours due to your work. You’ll be prickly and uncooperative most of the time, but I’m willing to overlook those faults.”
A sharp knock on his head might cure him. “Gee. Thanks.”
“Those cute faults.” He grinned. “But as I said we’re compatible. I understand your work, and I think you might appreciate mine given a chance.”
Luckily, we reached the area. Parking the car two streets away, I got out. My head was pounding with all the gibberish he sprouted. “You’re crazy and might benefit from a visit to a therapist. I could Google and find out some names for you, but that’s the final extent of our relationship.”
“I get it. It’s too early for you. Let’s just go on a date and then see how it goes.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
The building was abandoned. The door still hung off balance. I don’t know what the hell I was doing here. If Mark was here, we would have found him. He wasn’t. This was a supreme waste of time. And yet, I found myself sprinting inside. It looked same as before. No one had visited it since we left, and I was surprised that the neighbors didn’t report a break in after seeing the broken door – but they were questioned by us yesterday and perhaps assumed that this was FBI business.
“Now what?”
“Let’s find a good hiding place.” That was an impossible task. There were no curtains, no furniture, and I wasn’t going to fold my body inside a closet. We both opted to sit behind the kitchen’s middle counter. “What are you doing for dinner tonight?”
“Oh, spare me.”
“Since we have newly agreed to be honest to each other, I’ll admit that when you say something like that, it really annoys me.”
“Ah. Bite me then.”
“With pleasure.” When he leaned towards me, I scooted back and he laughed. “You really should pay attention to your words.”
“Shush.” I heard someone enter the building. The person stopped for a few moments in the living room and then walked up the stairs. Judging by the time and the noise, he was now on the second floor. I motioned for Aaron to follow me but only after I had sent a text to Jeremy. We walked upstairs slowly, trying hard not to make noise. The silence was ominous. Stopping at the first floor landing, I gestured for Aaron to sweep the floor while I kept a watch. He did so. The way he moved, the predatory nature of his body, made me wonder what he would do if attacked.
Aaron didn’t take prisoners.
He would kill Smith if there was an attack.
And I didn’t want that to happen until after we found Mark.
Luckily, there was no encounter. He waved a hand to show all was clear and we moved up. Much to our chagrin, the second floor showed no sign of life also.
Empty?
How could that be?
Had I made a mistake? Did no one enter the building?
Unwilling to give up so soon, we made another sweep. Smith was here, I was sure of it. As we entered the last bedroom, my gaze was riveted to the strange tracks on the floor next to a bookshelf. Hmm. Interested. I reached out but Aaron grabbed my hand. He shook his head.
What was he up to now?
Taking his phone out of his pocket, he tapped an app. As the screen came alive, a bluish light shot out of the camera. He scanned the surface of the bookshelf. Fascinated, I looked at the screen. He really was a tech genius. As the light skimmed over the upper right corner of the top shelf, it lit up as red. “Bingo,” he muttered.
I pushed hard on that corner. There was a slight depression in the wood. As I latched on it, a barely audible click was heard and the bookshelf detached from the wall and slid to the side. Smith stood, replete in his old man’s get up. He’d been in the process of taking out stuff from the packet in his hand.
“Well, hello,” said Aaron as we entered the small, empty room. Much to my disappointment, Mark wasn’t there. “Whom do we have here?”
It took Smith only a few moments to recover. “What the hell are you three doing here?”
Was he suddenly unable to count?
I l looked back and saw Sebastian lurking in the doorway. “What the hell?”
“He has been in the building for the past seven minutes,” said Aaron in a calm voice. “The White Council generally doesn’t like to get their hands dirty so he was waiting for us to find Smith before he moved in.”
“Touché!” said Sebastian in an unperturbed voice as he walked in. “What do we have here?”
“A hidden room, a man dressed up as someone else, and what is this?” Aaron pointed at the packet. “Lunch, I presume?”
It was food from a restaurant nearby Smith’s real office building. The delivery guy had walked inside right before Smith strolled out dressed as someone else. Now the heavy coat he wore made sense; he hid the food inside it.
Putting the lunch bag on the floor, Smith straightened. “What are you guys doing here? This is private property? And you…did you break that door?” He pointed at Aaron. “I’m going to sue you.”
“By all means,” said Aaron as he turned around and inspected the room. “But you will find it hard to do from a jail cell.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“So you make it a habit to hide your food under your coat, dress up as someone else, and visit an empty building to eat it in such a remarkably wonderful setting?”
Smith shrugged. “I came to inspect the place as I suspected you had done something to it after what you said.”
“And this get up?”
“You all have been hounding me for ages. I didn’t want the attention.”
My eyes narrowed. “Enough of this. Where is Mark?”
“Really, madam…I am tired of telling you that I don’t know what you are talking about.” He seemed to be getting his groove back after being surprised by the lot of us. “You don’t have anything concrete against
me, and yet you insist on stalking me, braking my personal property, invading my privacy, and even threatening me.”
If he sued me, it would be bad.
I couldn’t allow him to drag the commune in this mess.
But as I stared into his eyes, I knew that he was bluffing. Smith wanted us out of his life – and that was the one thing I refused to do. Grabbing the phone from Aaron’s hand, I tapped the app he used and began to scan the walls.
“What do you think you are doing?” yelled Smith.
As he lunged for me, Aaron caught his arm and held him in place. “Not so fast.”
“You…I’m going to send you both to jail. I’ll make sure you all fester in some prison for weirdoes for the rest of your lives.” Much to my frustration, the walls were clean of any thermal activity. With a huff of annoyance, I began to check the floor. I could see some flashes of red but they were boot prints. Ours. His. Damn it. There was nothing here.
Were we wrong?
Was this another macabre mistake?
Viola. The light showed two identical, cylindrical red prints that showed up strongly in one place. They were almost a foot apart. I crouched to take a look.
“What is it?”
When I looked up, I saw a white, round device on the ceiling. It could have been a smoke detector, but it wasn’t. The building didn’t have anything like this in the other rooms. “Check his pockets.”
While holding him with one hand, Aaron groped around in the big coat that Smith wore. “You’re all crazy. This is madness. I haven’t done anything. I’ll file a complaint against you with the police, with the CIA. I’ll expose you with the media.”
“Enough with the threats,” drawled Aaron.
Drawing out a white, thin device that looked like a remote, he threw it at me. I caught it. Pointing it up, I pressed the button.
“No,” screamed Smith. Shoving Aaron hard, he tried to break free, but it would have been easier had he tried to tackle a mountain. Aaron didn’t budge an inch from his place. Instead he grabbed Smith’s other arm, twisted both behind his back, marched him to the wall, and shoved him against it.
“Stay still or I’ll break both your arms.”
Although Aaron spoke in a soft voice, something must have shown in his voice, because Smith fell silent as we all watched the ceiling split open. A thin, white metal staircase slid down. It landed without a sound on the exact two spots.
We were on to something.
Anticipation and dread mixed in equal measure in my blood. My heart raced, and my breath came out in great gulps as I struggled to maintain control.
If I found Mark tied to a cross, dead, I wouldn’t ever be able to forgive myself.
What if we were too late?
What if he was dead already?
Chapter Nineteen
Every nerve in my body tingled as I scrambled up. It was pitch dark. The place stank of unwashed clothes, sweat, and something else. Switching on Aaron’s phone, I flashed it over the floor. A suitcase that must have been dark blue lay in the middle. It was swaddled in layers of dirt. But there were fresh streaks through the dust. I followed their path and found the bundle in the corner.
“Mark.” I screamed.
This was an attic, and it was roomy enough for me to stand. Running over, I leant closer. His eyes were closed, and his skin was pale. There was a bruise on his cheek. Tentatively, I put a hand on his chest.
Yes! He was alive.
His breathing was shallow, but he wasn’t dead.
“He is alive,” I yelled. “Jeremy must be on his way. We’ll need an ambulance also.”
“Use my phone to call,” suggested Aaron.
Rapidly, I made the call while Sebastian clambered up. We both held Mark and climbed down. It wasn’t easy, but Sebastian was surprisingly strong. Just as we stepped on the floor, Jeremy and Dubey walked into the room.
“What’s going on…Mark,” yelled Jeremy. “You found him. Is he…”
“He is fine. He will be. But we need to get him to a hospital. The ambulance is on its way,” I said in a fierce voice. “He is going to make it.”
“I’ll carry him.” Dubey took him out of our hands as if he weighed nothing. “He stinks though.”
For some odd reason, we all broke into laughter. Relief? Joy? Yes. Yes. Yes. He was alive and that was all that mattered.
“Why don’t you guys take care of Mark while we deal with things here?” I said.
Jeremy exchanged glances with me. “Sure. See you back in the commune. We’ll ride to the hospital behind the ambulance. I’ll call Augusta on the way.”
As they walked out, I turned my attention to Smith. The case was finally over. The bastard had it coming. I would hand him over to Jones but only after I exacted my revenge. How dare he do this to my friend? How dare he kill two people? He deserved to die, but for now I was just going to rough him up a little. A few punches and a good kick or two should sort him out.
“Let him go, Aaron.”
He glanced back and saw the look on my face. Letting go, he took a step back. “With pleasure.”
Smith cowered as I drew near him. “Wait. I can explain.”
“Really? How?”
“It wasn’t my fault. It…my mother was a mage but my father was not. I wanted to be one, but I didn’t have any magic.”
I just couldn’t believe the ass was still talking. “I really don’t care about your pathetic and sad life.”
“But you should. You must. I wanted to have the gift, I wanted it so badly. It would be nice to be unique, special. You don’t know what it feels like to know that something that could have belonged to you didn’t because of a fluke of nature,” he whined.
Much to my disgust, his eyes watered. The asshole really believed we would sympathize with his plight. I just wanted to hang him upside down and kick the shit out of him.
“It’s very rare for the gift to skip a generation. The power gets diluted, but it doesn’t vanish,” said Aaron.
Smith sniffled. Yanking the false beard off, he threw it on the floor. “It happened to me. Do you know what it feels like to be the only one in the family who doesn’t possess magic? My cousins, their kids, everyone had it. I was the only one. Cast out, alone, I didn’t have a choice but to acquire it in another way.”
The unholy light that gleamed in his eyes unnerved me a bit and I faltered. Gone was the façade of the sophisticated, urbane person who helped others with problems through hypnotism. He was a basket case. “You can’t acquire magic if you aren’t born with it.”
“You are wrong.” He jabbed a finger at him. “Wrong. There is a…” He lowered his voice. “There is a coven in Australia who has been working on creating a serum that would bestow magical powers to anyone who drank it. I’ve talked to them myself. But…I knew a better way.”
“Better way?”
He shuffled a bit forward. The keen, eager look in his eyes was unnerving. “Their work is still in the early developmental stages. Might or might not work, but while talking to them, I got this idea. If I could imbibe the life force of someone into me, someone with magic, I would get the powers.”
Imbecile.
Crazy.
Mad.
There weren’t enough adjectives in my dictionary to describe him.
“It doesn’t work like that.”
“It will. It will,” he insisted. Yep! A definite nut case. “The girl was too weak, and her magic wasn’t strong enough. I drank her blood, bit her, and tasted it. It felt like nirvana.”
Bile rose in my throat. “You drank her blood?”
“A little bit only. Maybe that was the mistake.” He frowned. “The werewolf was an experiment. I figured…if I could get his power, you know.”
“You should have asked him to bite you then.” Aaron exchanged glances with me. What the hell had we caught “Popular culture says that’s how one turns into one.”
“All nonsense, of course,” replied Smith with authority. “Werewolves are b
orn like that. It’s a race. But I had the opportunity and I thought…well, why not?”
Yeah, right. I just killed a werewolf because I could and it was an experiment. No big deal.
A true psychopath.
He deserved to rot in a dark, musty dungeon for the rest of his life.
“How did you lure them to the spot?”
Smith straightened. “I don’t have magic, but it took me years to learn hypnotism.” He smiled. Putting a hand in his pocket, he took out a spray. “And I made this. It’s distilled from the leaves of a special plant that is imported from Amazon.”
“The online company?” I asked.
“No, the forest Amazon. One whiff of this, and the person becomes…more pliable.”
“And they do whatever you tell them to do?”
“Yes, for a while. The effects wear off within a few hours. It doesn’t work on humans though. Only on mages and those with other gifts like werewolves. I haven’t tried it on a vampire as yet. The werewolf was a mistake. He was having a drink in a bar, and we got talking. I can always tell who they are, you know. And I had the spray and I wanted to see if it would work, and then it did, so I thought I might as well see if I could transfer his powers into me. Mistake.”
So these people followed him to their deaths because of the serum.
“You’re a bloody mistake, that’s what you are.” I lunged and caught his throat. The spray fell out of his hand and rolled on the floor. My nails bit into his skin. “You were planning to do the same to Mark.”
“It was an impulsive decision. I mean…he was there, and I needed someone with substantial powers.”
“Why didn’t you kill him then?” asked Aaron.
I increased the pressure on his throat. His face turned pink. “You guys were hovering around,” he managed to squeak out the words. “I didn’t want to risk it too soon. But it was a mistake. He’s fine. No harm done.”
I couldn’t help myself. The kick in the groin made him whimper. I let go and he bent, clutching his private parts. “You’re a true maniac.”
I paced the room, fighting the rage that coiled within me. He was a worm, an insect, an abomination – and I wouldn’t let him spiral me out of control.
01 Serial Killer (FBI Paranormal Casefiles) Page 20